WASHINGTON — A Maryland state trooper shot and killed a man who was driving a stolen SUV and used it to ram a police car, pinning the officer inside at a gas station in Frederick Monday morning.
The dead man has yet to be identified and investigators don’t yet know if he was involved in stealing the gold Lincoln Navigator in an armed robbery in Baltimore Sunday night. Police later determined the man had a large folding knife but they found no other weapons. The trooper involved has been placed on administrative leave.
The shooting happened about 8:45 a.m. Monday at the Sheetz on East Patrick Street near Monocacy Boulevard, just off Interstate 70.
A Maryland state trooper noticed the Navigator parked at the gas station had expired plates as the trooper entered the convenience store. A check of the plates through the state’s motor vehicle records turned up the report of the robbery in Baltimore, said state police spokesman Greg Shipley.
Another state trooper arrived and together the troopers approached the driver of the Navigator, who was standing outside the SUV, to attempt to he arrest him in connection with the Baltimore robbery. They ordered him to surrender. Instead, the man climbed into the vehicle and began to speed away.
As he was leaving, the man drove into the driver’s side of a Frederick City police car that had just arrive, pushing the car across the parking lot and up onto a curb, trapping the city officer inside.
The driver jumped out of the still-moving SUV and ignored orders to stop and show his hands. He was shot by Trooper William Jansen, police say.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police believe the driver intentionally hit the city officer to disable the vehicle, Shipley said.
The officer was taken to the hospital but was not seriously injured.
Jansen has worked for the state police for five years. He is assigned to the aviation command, based at Frederick Municipal Airport, which is not far from the Sheetz.
He has been placed on administrative leave and an internal affairs investigation has begun.
WTOP’s Andrew Mollenbeck contributed to this report from Frederick.
